Search Results for: overtreatment

The Associated Press, which sometimes may be viewed as only reacting to breaking news of the day, today published a timely and timeless feature explaining: “Anywhere from one-fifth to nearly one-third of the tests and treatments we get are estimated to be unnecessary, and avoidable care is costly in more ways than the bill: It may lead to dangerous side effects.” It’s timely because, on the heels of the New York Times’ cr…

Dr. Iona Heath, a retired general practitioner and member of the UK’s Royal College of General Practitioners, writes in JAMA Internal Medicine‘s “Less Is More” column about “Waste and Harm in the Treatment of Mild Hypertension.” (subscription required for access to full text) This is a topic that receives very little attention. After all, who can argue with attempts for early intervention against “the si…

I was struck by the recurring themes in this week’s health news and planned to blog about it today. But Lindsey Tanner of AP beat me to it with her story, “Experts say US doctors overtesting, overtreating.” She begins: “Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans – maybe even President Barack Obama – are being overtre…

From today’s latest addition to this excellent series: “Americans increasingly are treated to death, spending more time in hospitals in their final days, trying last-ditch treatments that often buy only weeks of time, and racking up bills that have made medical care a leading cause of bankruptcies. More than 80 percent of people who die in the United States have a long, progressive illness such as cancer, heart failure or Alzheimer&…

…s of those who promote screening – some of them with a vested interest. It is far more difficult to explain nuance, evidence, and reasons why there can be harms from a supposedly simple screening test. Since overdiagnosis and overtreatment are themes of this year’s Health Literacy Month blog posts, let’s start right there with a list of potential harms. The reason there are evidence-based guidelines – such as those from the U.S. Preventive Servic…

Another important paper in the JAMA Internal Medicine “Less is More” series. “Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment: Evaluation of What Physicians Tell Their Patients About Screening Harms,” is by one of my risk communication gurus, Gerd Gigerenzer and colleague Odette Wegwarth. They surveyed 317 US men and women aged 50-69 years, a population with the highest exposure to screening programs. Their summary: Most participants …

…ergo a mammogram every three years. The current invitation letters and accompanying leaflets have been heavily criticised for failing to mention potential harms of breast screening, in particular the risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment (http://www.bmj.com/content/338/bmj.b86). In response to this criticism, Sir Michael Richards, National Cancer Director for the NHS, asked eminent epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot to chair an independent commi…

…Minnesotans’ bad backs. Snowbeck artfully captures the predictable rationalization and defensive responses coming from locals who don’t like what the data suggest. Because what they suggest is overuse leading to overtreatment. So here’s one attempt a provider makes to deflect the data: “The Medicare billing/claims data, which this report is generated from, would not capture conversations between a patient and provider t…

…ing, most experience the same outcome and are, therefore, subjected to the harms of treatment for a much longer period of time. There is convincing evidence that PSA-based screening for prostate cancer results in considerable overtreatment and its associated harms.The USPSTF considered the magnitude of these treatment-associated harms to be at least moderate. Samadi said: “We’re going to save a lot of men” by promoting th…

One of our readers tipped us off to what he called “a new poster child for overtreatment.” We’ll call it disease-mongering. It’s the website of the drug company promoting Zicam. The new pitch promotes Zicam for “pre-colds.” What’s a Pre-Cold™?, the website asks, anticipating our astute question. Well, as you can see, it’s a term that the drug company trademarked – they thought it was that cl…